The Rio Olympics’ silver medalist Italy and bronze medalist Russia faced off in the first quarterfinals, which was thought to be the most exciting game of the day. Russia won againts Netherlands 11 to 10, while Italy arrived to the rendezvous as group winners after three days of rest.

The Russian team started off vigorously, but the first goal of the game only came in the sixth minute, Alena Serzhantova was able to score. Not long after that, Ivanova doubled Russia’s lead and five seconds before the end of the quarter, Ryzhkova scored and therefore Russia won the first period 3-0.

Russia also started the second quarter better and they were lucky as well, Italy was shocked with a 4-0 deficit. Emmolo was able to score Italy’s first goal on an extramen situation but they couldn’t find their rhytm to turn this game around quickly. It didn’t take a long time though, as Garibotti equalized at the end of the first half and the teams went for the break at 4-4.

After the break, Emmolo scored again and Italy took the lead from 0-4 to 5-4. Borisova quickly answered and the whole game was really intense, there was a big war in the pool, while a storm cloud approached Margaret Island. Garibotti scored a huge goal and after that Italy scored once again and they were up by two at 7-5. Their lead didn’t last long, as Karimova and Gorbunova each scored once and it was 7-7 at the beginning of the fourt quarter. What a game!

The rain arrived when the last period begun and so did the Russian lead. Ivanova scored twice as Russia took off for a two goal lead. After a Fabio Conti timeout Italy missed a huge chance to get back up, but shortly after that – when 3:41 was on the clock – they did score and reduced their handicap to one goal. After that, both teams missed on extramen situations and they faced an extremely exciting last few minutes in the pool.

Italy had their chance at the very end as well to equalize, but they weren’t able to score once again on an extramen situation, so Russia advanced to the semifinals.

There were no goals in this game for twelve minutes, which was a huge surprise, given that USA was the heavy favourite and they rarely lack the ability to score some goals. The last time when the two sides faced off directly before the world championships in Hungary, USA won 14-7.

In the middle of the second quarter USA woke up and took a 3-0 lead to half time with two goals from Jordan Raney and one from Melissa Musselmann. By the way, there was mild raining during the match.

After the break, USA controlled the game, but they unquestionably didn’t like Australia’s style. The third quarter ended in a 2-2 tie.

In the final quarter, Gofers scored her and also her team’s third goal and Australia decreased their deficit to two goals, although they were hesitant whey they were on the verge of scoring again. USA wasn’t, Musselmann scored on an extramen situation, 6-3 was on the scoreboard.

At the end of the game, the big questions were answered and the rain didn’t become worse either until the final whistle. USA advances to the semifinals where they will face Russia.

Hungary started the game slowly, they hit the post a couple of times and Canada blocked a lot of Hungarian shots in the first half, thanks to their defensive style where there were almost two keepers in the goal defending the shooting lanes extremely well. Hungary's defense was also stellar in the first period, which ended with a 1-0 Canadian lead.

The second quarter was like it was on a loop. Hungary equalized but right after that Monika Eggens scored. This happened three times in the second period alone. The teams went for the break with a 4-4 tie, Eggens scored all of Canada's goals in the first half.

There was only one goal in the third quarter and as it turned out, in the whole second half as well. That goal came from – who else – Monika Eggens. The interesting thing is that Canada barely had a few shots in the second half, so Hungary defensed really well, but there were a lot of problems on offense. Hungary only scored in one quarter, the second one. They didn’t have the courage to shoot after a great defensive showing by Canada took away their confidence. The final score was 5-4 for Canada, which is a huge disappointment for the host team as their hopes for a medal was blown away with a poor offensive performance by them.

Spain started off better, they scored on their first attack, but Greece played better after that and scored three straight goals, two of them came from Eleftheria Plevritou. Spain was able to give a little frame to the quarter with the first and last goal coming from them. The first action goal came from Ortiz Munoz with a long distance shot and she equalized the game at 4-4 two minutes before the half, but Greece was able to take the lead right before halftime.

The second half was extremely exciting and there were a lot of twists in the storyline. The teams took turns, first Spain scored two goals to took the lead, then Greece did the same again. In the fourth quarter, it happened again. Spain took the lead just to see two more goals from Greece. What a game!

The thrills went on and on, Spain equalized, but Greece scored once again, 10-9! There was only 30 seconds on the clock when Spain started their last attack to save this game for penalties. They even had an extramen situation at hand and they capitalized on that with 5 seconds remaining, which meant penalties for the semifinals!

Both teams scored on their first two penalties, but after that Spain’s shot was saved by the keeper, Greece’s shot by the post. The Spainards didn’t hesitate after this, but Manolioudaki’s penalty was saved by Ester Ramos. Helena Lloret Gomez was the one who took the last shot, didn’t miss and won the game for Spain. The player of the game was Beatriz Ortiz Munoz from Spain with 5 goals and a good penalty at the end.

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